From the prior art, various methods and arrangements are known for the internal oiling of transmission shafts. For example, transmission shafts can be internally oiled by passive oiling systems in which special oil and guide devices are used, which collect the oil by means of drip edges in the housing or oil capturing devices and deliver it through ducts to one end of the transmission shaft to be oiled; the oil is led into the transmission shaft to be oiled by means of an oil guide that projects into the shaft at one end or by means of a rotary distributor.
DE 10 2005 052 450 A1 by the present applicant describes a method for oiling components by means of rotating shafts, for example in automatic transmissions of motor vehicles or other mechanisms that have rotating components.
The known system comprises at least two hollow shafts arranged in the flow direction of the oil, such that a main shaft is arranged coaxially in an accommodating area of a driveshaft wherein it is mounted by means of a roller bearing. To be able to supply sufficient lubrication oil to lubrication points at varying oil delivery efficiencies and rotational speeds of the shafts, according to DE 10 2005 052 450 A1 it is provided that on the driveshaft there is arranged an oil reservoir container provided with at least one flexible wall, whose inside space is connected by way of at least one radial bore to the axial bore of the driveshaft, and which has an oil penetration regulating component arranged in the end of the driveshaft remote from the main shaft.
Disadvantageously, in systems of this type additional components are needed, for example oil guide devices and sometimes a rotary distributor, and this has an adverse effect on the assembly effort and on the production and maintenance costs.
Furthermore, the internal oiling of the transmission shafts can be ensured by active oiling systems. In this case the oil is pumped by a pump through an oil guidance system to an injection nozzle at the end of the transmission shaft to be oiled or to a rotary distributor, and injected into the shaft. In active oiling systems as well, additional components are disadvantageously required, such as oil guide devices, an injection nozzle and a rotary distributor.
For example, DE 10 2004 018 226 A1 by the present applicant describes a system for supplying oil to shafts, in particular transmission shafts, that comprises an axially extending bore or oil duct with at least one oil bore in the shaft provided with the axial bore or oil duct, the bore leading from the surface of the shaft into the axial bore or oil duct. In addition the known system comprises at least one nozzle arranged outside the shaft, through which oil is injected into the at least one bore, the injection speed of the oil being determined such that the stream reaches at least as far as into the oil duct in the shaft, where it is broken up and distributed in the shaft.